Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project from one
or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government
agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews:

SYNOPSIS: When North Vietnam began to increase their
military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong
troops intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as
the Viet Minh had done during the war with the
French some years before.
The border road, termed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail"
was used for transporting weapons,
supplies and troops. Scores of American pilots
were shot down trying to stop this communist traffic
to South Vietnam. Fortunately, search and rescue teams
in Vietnam were extremely successful and the
recovery rate was high. Still, there were nearly 600
who were not rescued in Laos. Many of them went down
along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the passes through
the border mountains between Laos and Vietnam.

In the early morning of August 9, 1969,
1Lt. Jefferson S. Dotson, rear seat
co-pilot, and Capt. Lee Gourley, pilot,
departed Tuy Hoa Airbase located on
the coast of central South Vietnam on a
"Misty" Forward Air Control (FAC)
mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in central Laos.

Lee Gourley had written home early that same day
saying that all missions for that day had been
scrubbed due to bad weather.
He did not expect to have to fly that day -
and he had time to write his family. Gourley
had been working with Misty for some time as
a volunteer. Misty FAC volunteers were chosen
from among the best and most experienced pilots.
He had delayed a trip to Hawaii for R & R
until the Misty duties were complete in another week,
knowing his time in the Vietnam arena would be
short following his return. The FAC mission had come up
unexpectedly.

The aircraft Dotson and Gourley flew,
the F100 Super Sabre, had been specially
modified a few years before to include a
second crewman. The F model, introduced
in 1965, had the latest technology in
radar signal detectors. The initial
shipment of F100F's were called
"Wild Weasel I" and were an important
element in several combat operations.

Gourley and Dotson were not on a Wild Weasel mission,
however, and on the FAC mission this day, no bombs
were loaded. They were to fly low and fast over
their objective area and presumably analyze targets
for future air strikes, or assess the potential
need for further strikes. FAC reconnaissance missions
in the traditional sense were often flown by light
observation aircraft rather than fighter/bombers,
but the necessary element for this mission was low
altitude and high speed, as well as the ability to cover a large territory.

Although there was normally no scheduled air backup
or escort on a FAC mission, and Gourley and Jefferson
had none, other aircraft which happened to be in the
area provide information as to what happened to
Dotson and Gourley as they flew near Sepone in
Savannakhet Province, Laos.

One passing aircraft intercepted a radio transmission
from the F100F, "We've been hit, we're going to try
to get out." Observers from the passing aircraft
then saw the F100 go up in flames, and observed one
fully deployed parachute.
(NOTE: The standard ejection called for the rear-seater,
Gourley, to make the first ejection, then the pilot,
and a fully deployed chute indicated the
successful ejection of a crew member.)

Dotson and Gourley were classified Missing in Action.
Their families understood that they might have been
captured, and like the families of others who were
missing, wrote regular letters.

Lee Gourley's sister, Elzene, became active in the
POW/MIA families' effort to "watchdog"
U.S. Government actions regarding American Prisoners
of War held in Indochina. In early 1973, Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger came to the POW/MIA families and
announced that peace agreements were ready to be signed
and their men would soon be home, or accounted for,
if they were dead.
Elzene Gourley specifically asked Kissinger about the
prisoners in other countries besides Vietnam - Laos,
Cambodia and China - and if his good news included the
men missing there.
Kissinger replied, "What do you think took us so long?"

When 591 American prisoners were released from communist prison camps in Southeast Asia in the
spring of 1973, it became apparent that Kissinger had
lied to the POW/MIA families. Not a single man who
had been held in Laos had been released. Although the
Pathet Lao had spoken publicly of American prisoners
they held, and many were known to have survived their
loss incidents, the U.S. had not negotiated the freedom
of the American POWs held in Laos.

In 1974, the Gourleys sent a letter to Lee in
care of the Prime Minister of Laos, who responded
that the letter would be conveyed later to their son.
The U.S. State Department said the Prime Minister
might not know English and probably an error was
made in translation.

In 1976, the Gourleys wrote to Lee in care of
Prince Souvanna Phouma in Vientiane, Laos.
He wrote back that he would give their letter
to the "central committee" to be sent to the
"one for whom (it was) intended." The U.S. State
Department ordered the Gourleys to quit writing
Lee in care of the Lao.

Following the war, refugees fled Southeast Asia
and brought with them stories of Americans still
held prisoner and other information relating to
Americans missing in their homelands.
By 1989, the number of such reports approaches
10,000, and most authorities reluctantly have
concluded that many Americans
must still be alive and held captive.

It is certainly reasonable to speculate that Gourley
and Dotson survived to be captured. Only the communist
governments of Southeast Asia could say if they are
among those hundreds of Americans thought to be still
alive, and they deny any knowledge of Americans
missing in their countries.

Lee Gourley and Jefferson Dotson pledged to
"keep the faith"
with their country.
Have we kept faith with the men who are still
fighting an old war in our names?
What would Lee Gourley and Jefferson Dotson say?

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